The city hall building in Nago, Okinawa, is pictured on Sept. 26, 2024. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The third indictment of a U.S. service member on sexual assault charges this year prompted fresh complaints from an Okinawa city this week.

Nago City Assembly approved a protest letter and petition Wednesday in response to Marine Lance Cpl. Michael Hofmaster’s recent indictment on charges of sexually assaulting and injuring a woman in the city in June.

Charges leveled against two other service members this year had already elevated popular discontent before Hofmaster’s indictment.

Senior Airman Brennon R.E. Washington pleaded not guilty July 12 in Naha District Court to charges of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a minor in December. Marine Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton was charged in May with attempting to sexually assault a woman in Yomitan.

Although U.S. military authorities suggested changes to the liberty policy across Japan in July, so far only a crackdown on off-base alcohol consumption, courtesy patrols in nightlife districts and universal sobriety checks at military gates have materialized.

There may be little else the U.S. military can do to restrict troops in Japan, said Marc Gallicchio, the Mary M. Birle Chair in American history at Villanova University in Pennsylvania and a former Fulbright lecturer at the University of the Ryukyus in 2004 and 2005.

“The armed forces, from everything I can tell as far as reading and talking to people, makes a pretty concerted effort to educate people on the proper conduct that’s expected of them — this sort of cultural awareness training,” Gallicchio said in a video call Aug. 20. “I don’t know that anything else can be done other than restricting the movement of people off base.”

The Nago letter and petition is the latest in a series of formal complaints, petitions, letters and personal visits by Okinawa government members to the U.S. Embassy, military commanders and Japanese government officials since July.

The Nago documents, copies of which were provided to Stars and Stripes on Thursday, ask the U.S. military to “provide a sincere response” to the women in each case, educate troops on the island about human rights, enforce discipline and “take effective preventative measures.”

It also asks for “drastic changes” to the status of forces agreement governing the U.S. military community in Japan.

“We are feeling strong indignation because the situation does not improve despite the Japanese government and U.S. military stating they will prevent reoccurrences,” the letter and petition state.

The city plans to present the petition next week to Japanese officials, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, a spokeswoman for the city assembly said Thursday.

The protest letter will be sent to U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and U.S. Forces Japan commander Lt. Gen. Ricky Rupp, among other U.S. officials, she added.

Some Japanese government officials are required to speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.

Rupp, who is set to relinquish his command Oct. 8 to Air Force Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost, announced in July a “new forum of cooperation” with the Japanese and Okinawan governments and community members. He has also called for consistent liberty policies for all U.S. troops in Japan.

USFJ in an unsigned email Thursday acknowledged questions emailed by Stars and Stripes on Wednesday about liberty rules and the forum but has not provided responses.

Kihara in a news conference Tuesday also said he had no update on the proposed measures.

The III Marine Expeditionary Force on Okinawa reminded its Marines of the penalty for drunken driving on the island, along with reiterating its ongoing measures to reduce the risk of sexual assault and other bad behavior, according to a statement Wednesday from spokesman 1st Lt. Owen Hitchcock.